My brother, who uses Linux exclusively on his own computer, once told me this;

"Most people don't give a crap about Open Source"

Within the confines of an open source community, it seems crazy. But, when you leave those confines, you slowly begin to realize that statement is indeed the case, much like I have. Heck, I had a guy I went to school with tell me that people who use Linux don't have a life. I've also had alot of trouble trying to use just Linux for college courses during my college years so far. I love Open Source, but, I'm not going to pretend Open Source is widespread. I gave up on trying to game on Linux a long time ago, because just to many games I like to play don't work, even with Wine. I still use Linux on my main school/work laptop, but, due to the requirements of one class last semester, I had to get a cheap Windows laptop just to be able to do the assignments for it. I do have dreams of making it widespread someday, but, as it stands now, it is just a sizable niche.

The only reason my brother hasn't had as much trouble is due to his field being very Linux-friendly.

With that said, I just hope OpenMW doesn't fall apart after this and will continue to support Morrowind, on top of new, fully open source games.

Yes, it's sad but your brother is right, most people don't give a crap about open source.
That's why it's important for open source projects and their communities to care for it.
The day that open source projects start not giving a crap themselves will be the end of the free software movement.

Nowadays most people don't even seem to care about privacy, they use all kinds of social networks and give their data to private companies no matter how many scandals about privacy concerns are raised.

Most people only care about things when they blow up in their own faces. It's fine as long as it's not their own face the one that is blown.
Sometimes they do not perceive the heat until the water is already boiling and then complain about it almost as if they hadn't been rewarding that behavior with their very own actions.

Yes, it's sad but your brother is right, most people don't give a crap about open source.
That's why it's important for open source projects and their communities to care for it.
The day that open source projects start not giving a crap themselves will be the end of the free software movement.

Nowadays most people don't even seem to care about privacy, they use all kinds of social networks and give their data to private companies no matter how many scandals about privacy concerns are raised.

Most people only care about things when they blow up in their own faces. It's fine as long as it's not their own face the one that is blown.
Sometimes they do not perceive the heat until the water is already boiling and then complain about it almost as if they hadn't been rewarding that behavior with their very own actions.

In the eyes of most people, they have nothing to hide (implying that those that do support privacy are hiding something devious), they don't fully understand what they are doing, or a combination of both. I am of the mind that nothing you do on the internet will ever truely be private, and nothing will ever change that, unless you pull the plug on the internet altogether.

Sorry to see you go Scrawl, you were a backbone of the project and a solid engineer. I'm sure you have a bright future working on a ton of interesting projects. OpenMW wouldn't be anywhere close to where it is today without you.

Hope you'll come back some day. I really wish you wouldn't get so hung up on hate for a company that used to be against OSS, but has since built a decade long relationship with open source endeavors. They're not your enemy, and don't deserve to make you quit something you're passionate about.

@scrawl: Sorry, I didn't see all the stuff from the earlier part of the thread. I only asked because I saw your first response and thought we should migrate. But I think if you want to do something else with your time, you should certainly do that. I agree with your sentiments though.

In the eyes of most people, they have nothing to hide (implying that those that do support privacy are hiding something devious), they don't fully understand what they are doing, or a combination of both.

I would be more inclined to believe that most people just don't fully understand the implications of what they do. Even when they claim it's because they have nothing to hide, I'd wager most think that because they don't fully understand the implications of what being completely open about everything would mean (the "I have nothing to hide" argument for the lack of privacy has long been debunked).

It doesn't help that companies that have a financial interest in attracting users will use psychological tactics to get people they wouldn't otherwise. More generally, just look at the crap AAA game publishers do these days. They literally hire psychologists to work out ways to get more people to buy into their products services. When you get things like that going on to manipulate people, you can't really believe their own stated reasons. Buyer's remorse is also a real thing; even if you didn't pay money, if you buy into something you're more likely to defend it even when it turns out there are objectively bad things about it.

The only reason I kept working on OpenMW was because I wanted it to be hallmark of engineering, of collaboration between OSS projects and of free software culture in general.

It may be hard to see, but that is what it is. OpenMW is a hallmark of OSS engineering. Extremely few open source projects can claim the same progress OpenMW has managed. Even the FOSS Doom- and Quake-derived engines and the like only exist because of the originally-closed source engines being opened later on. OpenMW though? Started completely from scratch with the purpose of being free and open. OpenMW is far from the first attempt at a featureful open source game engine, but it has the rare distinction of being as complete as it is without compromising its openness. And its still going strong.

Well this was an awfully upsetting read. I count myself among (what I believe is) a silent majority who believe in this project and the ideals of its main developers, and have been happy to support it in such ways as I could, like scrawl's brief use of Patreon. I knew the acquisition of Github was bad news, but losing one of the brightest stars in OpenMW's development in the fallout? It's just not bloody fair.

It's sad scrawl leaves but I admire him for taking the stance. I am going to do the same. I am gone from GitHub. I will only continue to contribute on grounds of a free platform, be it GitLab, a mailing list or anything else.